Emerald Holding goes private in $5-a-share buyout
Shareholders received $5.03 a share in cash, a 42.1% premium to the December 2025 unaffected price.
The business-events organizer Emerald Holding (EEX) completed its acquisition by funds managed by Apollo Global Management and Questex, ceasing public trading and delisting from the New York Stock Exchange. Stockholders received $5.03 a share in cash, a 42.1% premium over the unaffected share price as of December 15, 2025.
The transaction followed a year in which Emerald’s organic-revenue growth slowed sharply even as acquisitions lifted reported sales. Full-year 2025 revenue reached $463.4 million, up 16.2% from $398.8 million in 2024, while adjusted EBITDA rose 25.0% to $127.1 million. Those gains were driven by the Generis, This is Beyond, and Insurtech Insights deals; without them, organic revenue grew only 1.1% for the year and 0.3% in the fourth quarter.
Fourth-quarter revenue climbed 24.3% year-over-year to $132.7 million, but organic revenue inched up just 0.3% to $105.0 million. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter rose 9.7% to $36.3 million. The company reported a net loss of $30.2 million, compared with net income of $5.1 million a year earlier, reflecting higher acquisition-related expenses.
The Connections segment, which accounts for roughly 90% of organic revenue, saw full-year organic sales rise 2.2% to $356.7 million, but third-quarter organic revenue fell 7.7%. The smaller All Other segment, which includes content and digital services, posted a 7.8% organic-revenue decline for the year.
Emerald issued 2026 guidance of $490 million to $495 million in revenue and $137.5 million to $142.5 million in adjusted EBITDA, up from the $460 million to $465 million and $122.5 million to $127.5 million it had projected after the Generis acquisition. Free cash flow excluding event-cancellation insurance proceeds fell 43.6% year-over-year in the fourth quarter to $10.1 million.
The company had expanded its share-repurchase program to $25 million through December 31, 2026, and bought back 4.1 million shares for $17.5 million in 2025 at an average price of $4.32 a share. A quarterly dividend of $0.015 a share was declared for the fourth quarter, matching prior payouts.